The end of the TV season is almost here. There's a two-hour finale of Grey's Anatomy tonight (that I hardly care about, but I watch because my wife does... even though she hardly cares now too), and the two-hour finale of Lost next week (which I am very excited about, as this has been the best season of the show since the first. Perhaps better even). Then that's it, it'll be time for broadcast television to go into hibernation mode.

Even though I'm an admittedly voracious consumer of television, I like the slow summer TV schedule (particularly since I'm also a voracious consumer of movies... and apparently not that much of a consumer of sunlight). It's a great palette cleanser that allows me to get excited about shows again come fall. More than that, in recent years I've been able to use the three months of summer to catch up on shows on DVD that I would have otherwise missed. Last summer, we watched all five season of Six Feet Under, the first seasons of Dexter and Friday Night Lights, the first three seasons of The Wire, and re-watched the first season of Big Love, meaning that we probably ended up seeing better quality television from June-August than we did from September-May.

With that in mind, I figured I'd lay out my summer viewing plans here, and ask for any input any of you might have regarding how I might best use the months ahead (you know, besides silly stuff like getting outside to enjoy nature or whatever).
( My summer TV viewing plans... )

In Treatment Season One

Starring: Gabriel Byrne, Blair Underwood, Dianne Wiest, Josh Charles, Embeth Davidtz, Melissa George, Mia Wasikowska, Michelle Forbes

Series Creator: Hagai Levi, developed by Rodrigo García
( The review...  )

Numbers 25 through 11 can be found here.
A note on spoilers: because I know not everyone is caught up on all five seasons of this show, but I still want as many people to read this as possible (I'm vain that way), this list will be as spoiler-free as possible. I will have to reference some events in order to talk about the characters, but no major events will be discussed (especially the ultimate fate of any character). Also, since characters move up and down their career fields throughout the series, I'll avoid referring to character by title as much as possible. When it is needed to refer to a character by their job title (i.e., Lieutenant, Judge, Mayor, etc), I'll only refer to the job title the character holds when we are first introduced to them. That said, if anyone wants to get into spoilers, I'll gladly do so via comments (with spoiler warnings).
( On to the list... )

I already had a lot to say about this series earlier, but didn't get into the terrific cast of characters both because my post was already long, and I had this post in mind. If you've never watched the show, you may think a list of 25 characters is a touch of overkill. However, if you have watched it, you're probably thinking to yourself: only 25?

There's never been an ensemble as deep as that of The Wire, which completely eschewed stars and delved into the lives of dozens of characters and how they affect, and are affected by, the city of Baltimore. The cast grew exponentially as the seasons went on, with the show introducing several new characters at once in an attempt to expand the scope of the show and the picture of Baltimore. Managing all these characters was a Herculean task, one that the show managed on an incomparable level. All the characters mattered, and each fit into the puzzle perfectly. When you consider that other shows have difficulties managing casts of less than ten, you start to get an appreciation of what The Wire did with five times that amount. When putting together this list, I came up with a list of over 50 names of characters I enjoyed that were vital to the show, so that should give you an idea of why a list of 25 top characters is a perfectly acceptable number.

By "top 25", I'm taking a few things into consideration. "Best" is too abstract an idea to apply to any type of standard, but I did try and decide which characters were the most unique, which actors performed the best in their roles, which characters were most significant for the show, who was the most memorable, etc. Then my personal tastes and favourites were factored in, and viola, a "Top 25" is made.

A note on spoilers: because I know not everyone is caught up on all five seasons of this show, but I still want as many people to read this as possible (I'm vain that way), this list will be as spoiler-free as possible. I will have to reference some events in order to talk about the characters, but no major events will be discussed (especially the ultimate fate of any character). Also, since characters move up and down their career fields throughout the series, I'll avoid referring to character by title as much as possible. When it is needed to refer to a character by their job title (i.e., Lieutenant, Judge, Mayor, etc), I'll only refer to the job title the character holds when we are first introduced to them. That said, if anyone wants to get into spoilers, I'll gladly do so via comments (with spoiler warnings).
( On to the list... )

The Wire The Complete Series

Starring: Dominic West, John Doman, Idris Elba, Frankie R. Faison, Wood Harris, Deirdre Lovejoy, Wendell Pierce, Lance Reddick, Clarke Peters, Andre Royo, Sonja Sohn, Seth Gilliam, Larry Gilliard Jr, Domenick Lombardozzi, Michael K. Williams, Jim True-Frost, Delaney Williams, Corey Parker Robinson, J.D. Williams, Aidan Gillen, Jamie Hector, Robert Wisdom, Anwan Glover, Chad Coleman, Jermaine Crawford, Tristan Wilds, Maestro Harrell, Julito McCullum, Reg E. Cathey, Isiah Whitlock Jr, Robert F. Chew, Amy Ryan, Glynn Turman, Paul Ben-Victor, Pablo Schreiber, Chris Bauer, James Ransone, Clark Johnson, Thomas McCarthy, Michelle Paress, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Neal Huff, Michael Kostroff

Series Creator: David Simon

I've already reviewed the excellent first season of this series, hoping to turn more people on to this criminally-overlooked series. Since then, I've bought it for others as a gift on two occasions and lent it out on another two in the hopes of spreading the message, but I think I only managed to convert two people to the show as a result. I declined to review subsequent seasons under the idea that people who have never seen the show wouldn't be particularly interested in reading a review on later seasons, but now that the show has finished its fifth and final season, I figured I'd take one more crack at convincing people to give the show a chance with this spoiler-free overview of the entire series, starting with this statement: at five seasons and 60 episodes long, The Wire is the absolute greatest televised drama I have ever seen.
( The spoiler-free review... )

Year-end TV lists are difficult things, as network TV follows a different schedule than January-December. Some writers go ahead and try to cram TV in the January-December calendar, judging two half seasons put together, but that's just silly. Instead, this list judges seasons that ended in 2007, including portions that began in 2006. If a season began in 2007, but is slated to return in 2008 (whenever that may be), then it is not under consideration for this list. Make sense?

Acclaimed shows that I don't watch, and thus won't be appearing on this list include The Sopranos, Battlestar Galactica, The Shield, Ugly Betty, Rescue Me, Brothers & Sisters, Mad Men, Flight of the Conchords, and House. On with the list...
( It's possible that I won't be doing this list next year... )

TV Talk: The New Fall TV Season - New Show Overview (2007)

Instead of doing reviews for every new pilot I watched over the past couple of weeks (which I really didn't have time for), I figured I'd just combine them all into mini-reviews in one post, judging each on whether or not I would continue watching the series. Each series will be listed in the order in which its pilot debuted, along with the network and time slot it occupies.
( Thoughts on the new TV shows... )

The Wire Season One

Starring: Dominic West, John Doman, Idris Elba, Frankie R. Faison, Wood Harris, Deirdre Lovejoy, Wendell Pierce, Lance Reddick, Andre Royo, Sonja Sohn, Seth Gilliam, Larry Gilliard Jr

Series Creator: David Simon
( The review... )

Extras Season One

Starring: Ricky Gervais, Ashley Jensen, Stephen Merchant

Series Creator: Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant
( The review... )

Six Feet Under Season Five

Starring: Peter Krause, Michael C. Hall, Frances Conroy, Lauren Ambrose, Mathew St. Patrick, Freddy Rodríguez, James Cromwell, Rachel Griffiths

Series Creator: Alan Ball
( The review, with major spoilers... )

TV Talk: Entourage

Starring: Kevin Connolly, Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara, Rex Lee, Perrey Reeves, Jeremy Piven

Series Creator: Doug Ellin

I once lavished extensive praise on this series, after catching up on the first two seasons through the power of downloads. It was fresh, hip, and fun, accented by a fantastic performance by Jeremy Piven as the motormouthed insult king Arie Gold.

Then I was able to watch the series as it aired beginning with the third season, and strangely, my enthusiasm for it faded. The series moved away from spotlighting the charmed life of Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier), and began to thrust more and more obstacles at the cast, going on an extended hiatus with Vince firing Arie after a long period of unemployment and aborted attempts to book him a follow-up to Aquaman.

For some reason, after several months off, the show decided to pick up the story and continue on the season (after releasing season three part one as an overpriced DVD set). Why they didn't just call this next session of episodes "season four" is a question best left to the philosophers of the future, especially since the firing of Arie had all the hallmarks of a season finale, and the next episode jumped ahead a few months with Vince having hired a new agent (Carla Gugino).

But the second half of season three did share one thing in common with the first half: it still wasn't any good. But, it shares that distinction with season four (which started two weeks after season three finally ended, making this season separation thing even more stupid). The fun of the first two seasons has mostly ended, leaving me with the stark realisation that the show isn't all that funny, and every character on it is a worthless jackass. Worse, I'm not entirely confident that this wasn't always the case.

Once they softened Arie's character, giving a bigger role to his assistant Lloyd (Rex Lee and his wife (Perrey Reeves), who both joined the main cast, and somehow became less appealing as a result. At this point, I basically watch the show every week because it's easier to watch it than it is to not watch it. It's a half hour when I only watch one other show during the week. Were it on in the fall, I'm not sure that I wouldn't have given up on it already.

The big story of the season is their effort to finally make Medellin, a movie Vince and Eric (Kevin Connolly) have been after since season one. They finally got the movie at the end of season three, and made it to begin season four, showing us the making of with a mockumentary-style episode that at least did something new for the series. Sadly, the whole fake movie looked terrible, but I'm not sure it was supposed to. Worse, the promotion of the flick and the next movie has pushed crazy director character Billy Walsh (Rhys Coiro) to the forefront, and he's basically the Cousin Oliver of the show and symbolic of everything that sucks about the series. He's unfunny, obnoxious, and hammy.

Do I think the show can turn it around? Not really. I think the word is out, and the fun guest stars that used to power the show are no longer interested in attaching themselves to this sinking ship. Instead, the show finds floundering celebs like M. Night Shyamalan or hacks like Brett Ratner and praises them as though it were an episode of Inside the Actor's Studio. It's really embarrassing. Will I keep watching? Sadly, I probably will, at least until the end of this season, or the half-season finale or whatever they're doing this time.

Thoughts? Disagreement? Ideas? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Related:
Entourage - Seasons One and Two
TV Talk: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
TV Talk: Weeds

Six Feet Under Season Four

Starring: Peter Krause, Michael C. Hall, Frances Conroy, Lauren Ambrose, Mathew St. Patrick, Freddy Rodríguez, James Cromwell, Rachel Griffiths

Series Creator: Alan Ball
( The review, with spoilers from earlier seasons... )

Six Feet Under Season Three

Starring: Peter Krause, Michael C. Hall, Frances Conroy, Lauren Ambrose, Mathew St. Patrick, Freddy Rodríguez, Rachel Griffiths

Series Creator: Alan Ball
( The review, with spoilers from earlier seasons... )

Six Feet Under Season Two

Starring: Peter Krause, Michael C. Hall, Frances Conroy, Lauren Ambrose, Mathew St. Patrick, Freddy Rodríguez, Rachel Griffiths

Series Creator: Alan Ball
( The review... )

Six Feet Under Season One

Starring: Peter Krause, Michael C. Hall, Frances Conroy, Lauren Ambrose, Mathew St. Patrick, Freddy Rodríguez, Rachel Griffiths

Series Creator: Alan Ball
( The review... )

Big Love Season One

Starring: Bill Paxton, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloë Sevigny, Ginnifer Goodwin, Harry Dean Stanton, Bruce Dern, Grace Zabriskie, Amanda Seyfried, Douglas Smith

Series Creators: Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer
( The review... )

Like last year, this list will be for shows whose season ended in 2006. It's too awkward to try and judge the second half of one season from January-May, then the first half of the next season from September-December. Seasons should be judged by themselves, as a whole. Thus, this list will include seasons that began in 2005, but ended in 2006, or shows that had their entire season within 2006. Seasons that began in 2006 but have yet to finish do not qualify for this list.

Shows I don't watch, and thus will not make this list include all procedurals and cop shows, Battlestar Galactica, Deadwood, The Wire, 24 (which I do watch, but am behind on the DVDs), and Gilmore Girls. Also, I didn't catch all of the first season of How I Met Your Mother, so I'm leaving it off the list. Consider that an honourable mention.
( Put down the remote, and click... )

Year end TV lists are a bit of an awkward affair, as television operates under its own schedule. Normally a September to May affair, horning a TV season into the January to December paradigm for the purpose of a year end issue of a magazine is dicey, and generally just doesn't work. So, I won't do it. I'm not going to try and figure out where a show was in January, then cram it together with where it left off the next season in December. It's dumb, and doesn't follow the intended narrative structure. Instead, I shall base my lists on seasons that finished in 2005. If a season ended in 2005, it qualifies for this list, whether it began in 2004, or was entirely released in 2005. Seasons that began in 2005 but are now ongoing through 2006 do not qualify. Makes sense, non? QUICK NOTE: I've yet to see the second season of Arrested Development or the fourth season of 24, each of which would probably would've contended.

( Must See TV? )

Here's a few New Rules from Bill Maher's HBO show Real Time with Bill Maher for your amusement:

• Competitive eating isn't a sport. It's one of the seven deadly sins. ESPN recently televised the US Open of Competitive Eating, because watching those athletes at the poker table was just too damned exciting. What's next, competitive farting? Oh wait. They're already doing that. It's called "The Howard Stern Show".
  
• I don't need a bigger mega M&M. If I'm extra hungry for M&Ms, I'll go nuts and eat two.
  
• Not to burst your bubble, but all bubbles burst! I don't want to say real estate is overpriced these days, but I had a refrigerator delivered this morning, and a homeless guy offered me three million for the box! Now, what is so distressing about this situation is that we just went through a bubble-bursting trauma with the dot-com crash. And here we are just five years later with real estate prices that could aptly be compared to Courtney Love: irrationally high and about to collapse.
  
• The fortunes in fortune cookies have to be fortunes. "You surround yourself with good friends" is not a prediction. It's a compliment. Quit kissing my ass, cookie! If I'm going to sit through a plate of MSG-laden, twice-cooked kitty-cat, I want a real fortune like, "That meal you just ate is going to give you cancer".

Entourage Seasons One and Two

Starring: Kevin Connolly, Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara, Debi Mazar, Jeremy Piven

Series Creator: Doug Ellin
( The review... )